Choices
by SpecialShipping
Summary: With Shadestar in charge, Mossclaw feels SkyClan is falling apart. But when obeying her leader comes at a price, does Mossclaw really want to stay? Challenge for FunClan: One-shot.


**Well, hey! This is a challenge for FunClan called The New Brokenstar. Read on, and I hope you enjoy!**

I'm running. You could think that it's just hunting, or a battle. Training, maybe. But no. This is Shadestar's doing.

I'm running for my life.

* * *

"Mossclaw!" The shout echoed across the clearing. I gulped down the remaining scraps of my mouse and hastily moved over next to Flameshimmer, the deputy. "Yes?"

A jerk of the head told me all I needed to know. "Shadestar's in there. He wants you."

I nodded my head deeply and went into a high stone cave. SkyClan isn't like it was. It used to be that the highest den was the warriors, and the Clan sheltered there in floods. Now it's the leaders den, and in a flood you're on your own, fighting for your life. Just like the rest of the time.

"Mossclaw?" Looking in the den, I saw our leader's copper eyes gleaming.

"Yes, Shadestar. It's me."

"Good." Slowly he came into the range of the sunlight. His dark grey pelt haunts my dreams. The black patches blend him into the shadows. And I know that one day his claws will end up in my skin.

"I would like you to mentor Heatherkit when the time comes. In other words, you will be appointed as her mentor at sun high."

My eyes widened. "What? But Shadestar, she's too young!"

"Kits will start training when I say they'll start training! Three moons is plenty old enough."

"But what if rouges come? Or the rats come, like in the stories? Or-"

"Quiet." I shut my mouth, trembling. "She'll start training today. If you object, I'm sure Yewheart, Stormpelt, and Flameshimmer would be more than happy to hunt you down. Okay?" His eyes clearly gave away that he would like to have me killed. I slowly nodded and left his den.

"So?" Flameshimmer sneered. "What did our almighty leader want to talk to you about?"

"Actually, I'm getting an apprentice." Flameshimmer's face turned from shock to hatred.

"After my spot, are you?"

"No, I'm not," I snapped back. "But many others would like it!"

"Let all cats gather beneath the leader's den!" Another change: we hadn't gathered there before.

"Heatherkit, you are three months old and ready to be an apprentice," Shadestar said, completely ignoring the traditions for an apprentice ceremony. "Mossclaw, you are ready for an apprentice. Heatherkit, now known as Heatherpaw, will be yours."

"Heatherpaw! Heatherpaw! Heatherpaw!" the Clan cheered.

"Come, Heatherpaw." The small grey she-cat padded over to me, and I sighed. She wasn't even up to my belly yet: how could she fight? "I'll show you the training hollow."

Shadestar walked over to me. "Remeber," he hissed in my ear, "train her to kill." I gulped, then put my tail on Heatherpaw's back and slowly walked out of the camp.

* * *

"A loss of a fine apprentice."

I whipped around and bared my teeth. "She wouldn't have died at all if you had let her get the proper care!"

Shadestar looked surprised at my outburst: perhaps faintly amused. "Oh, Mossclaw. If she had been strong enough, she wouldn't have needed treatment. It's better this way."

I moaned and lay down, my nose touching Heatherpaw's fur. The thin grey fur still held some warmth. She had never been very strong.

"Mossclaw..."

I looked up at Shimmerpelt, the medicine cat. "What?"

Her eyes were still full of kindness, so I knew someone held sympathy for me. Not even Sandheart, my own mother, was kind. Everyone was either cruel or felt nothing.

"I need to get Heatherpaw ready for the burial." Shimmerpelt looked like getting Heatherpaw ready was the last thing she wanted to do, and I agreed. She shouldn't have died. I made a promise in my heart that I would never take on a new apprentice.

* * *

"Yes, Shadestar?"

Moons had passed since Heatherpaw died, as they do. Grief was still fresh in my heart, but it didn't get in the way any more.

"How do you feel about getting a new apprentice?" he asked, his voice silky smooth.

"I feel..." My tongue seemed to be tied, and I couldn't get a word out.

"Great." Shadestar ran his black tail over my spine, and my fur ruffled. "See, Flameshimmer and I were scared that losing Heatherpaw was taking up too much of your thoughts. So what better way to take your mind off her than a new apprentice?"

I slowly nodded and padded outside to underneath the leader's den. Again, I heard the bone chilling call; "Let all cats gather beneath the leader's den!"

"Lightkit." Shadestar nodded to a kit that I didn't even know was alive. "You are three moons old, and old enough to be an apprentice. Mossclaw, you will be his-"

"No!" I yowled. The Clan was staring at me and whispering, but I didn't care.

Shadestar narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, no?"

"I will not train Lightkit." I stood up on trembling legs. "I have trained a kit, and watched her die in front of me because you," I continued, turning to face Shadestar, "Refused to do what was right. I am no longer a member of SkyClan!"

"If you are no longer a member," Flameshimmer hissed, "Can't we chase you out?"

"Of course you can chase her out, Flameshimmer," Shadestar said. "Give her a small head start, then take Yewheart and Stormpelt with you."

I knew what this meant, so I turned around and fled past everyone and ran into the woods.

* * *

"I scent her!" I trembled from my hiding place in a tree, but I knew that this safely couldn't last long. Stormpelt was the best tracker in the Clan. I knew that I could either hide like a coward and be killed, or run across the nearby border and be safe for a while longer.

I took a breath and leapt down the tree, making sure to land softly, and ran like my life depended on it, which I suppose it did. Once I crossed the border, I kept running until I found an old Twoleg nest.

I went in through a crack and, thinking it over, realized that this was my best option for a while. I made a nest out of some soft Twoleg things and lay down, closing my eyes. As drifted off to sleep, I made a choice. _I am not Mossclaw of SkyClan. I am Moss, loner._

_****_**Well, I made the 1,000 word minimum! Once I got some inspiration, it just kept going! Even though this was a one-shot, there is a poll on my profile asking a question about this! So go review and answer the poll!**


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